Teen may face murder charge as adult

Published: Sunday, February 25, 2001

CONCORD, N.H. {AP} A 16-year-old accused in the murders of two Dartmouth College professors was returned to New Hampshire on Saturday, and a former state prosecutor said he is likely to stand trial as an adult.

James Parker arrived at Lebanon Airport from Indiana, escorted by state police troopers. He made no comment.

Parker and Robert Tulloch, 17, are charged with first-degree murder in the slayings of Half Zantop, 62, who taught earth sciences at Dartmouth, and his wife, Susanne Zantop, 55, the chairwoman of the German studies department.

The Chelsea, Vt., teens are accused of stabbing the couple to death in their Hanover, N.H., home on Jan. 27.

Parker is considered a child under state law, but prosecutors are seeking to try him as an adult. Tulloch already is being treated as an adult.

Attorney Douglas Brown said Parker would plead innocent and seek to be tried as a juvenile.

Michael Ramsdell, a former chief of the attorney general's homicide bureau, said a judge is likely to side with prosecutors.

In the last 15 years, there hasn't been a juvenile who was charged with first-degree murder who wasn't certified as an adult, Ramsdell told Saturday's Union Leader of Manchester.